Nokia has confirmed that it’s developing a touchscreen-equipped handset to take on the Apple iPhone, and has shown off pictures of the upcoming phone to drooling onlookers.
The Finnish giant’s handset is codenamed 'Tube', and Tom Libretto, VP of Forum Nokia, said the device will be the company’s “first touch device”.
Libretto …

so...

@first touch screen device

if you read, it says "first touch device" not "touch screen", which suggests to me that it is a pure touch/gesture interface rather than a phone that sports a touchpad but with a keypad somewhere as your prominant interface.

Yeah right

iPhone killer

So about a year later Nokia come up with an iPhone killer! Surely a massive handset manufacturer should have been at the forefront of handset design and come up with a design like this before apple. Nokia have been churning out handsets every year. It wouldn't have taken much risk for them to develop their iPhone. Its not just nokia either...Every year all the manufacturers have been bringing the same thing year in year out but with bigger cameras, more complicated UI etc.

Apple spent the time and money to come up with a beautiful design, slick UI and a pretty decent handset on their first go. That took a lot of guts if you ask me.

Fair enough they still don't have MMS and 3G and a few other features that most modern phones have but the iPhone 1 is just the beginnings and now apple have seen how the iPhone was recieved and what people really want with the handset given the option I believe the iPhone 2 will truly blow the competition out of the water when it arrives.

I hope nokia realise that when their iPhone (1) killer comes out the iPhone 2 won't be far behind to show them yet again what they should have thought of.

killer

its so funny to see a company that has been around for years in the mobile business trying to tout their latest one as the iphone killer... a device that hasnt even been around for 1 year and is the first offering from apple.

@ Chris Gibson

If Nokia want's to avoid the Tube becoming a Hole....

Having owned 2 Nokia Symbian S60 devices, the N70 and N73 respectively, I'm assuming that Nokia will have completely removed the current collection of Symbian bugs and glitches before releasing this supposed iPhone killer (lost the N70, chanced it with the N73, not 100% satisfied).

I hope Nokia equip the Tube with a decent enough processor (600mhz plus), the N73 takes up to 5-10 seconds to access SMS, Gallery, Camera (longer) at times, and this device doesn't do any swish, sliding-multi-touch type stuff like a iPhone does. I'd suggest that the elegant UI of the iPhone is one of it main selling points, simply out of the 'Wow!' factor, so unless Nokia are going to release something akin to this, I can't see the current S60 UI being that much of an iPhone killer, can you?

In Nokia's defense, I do hear good things about the memory management, speed and battery life improvements provided by the inclusion of on-demand-paging to the Symbian stack but this is only available on certain handsets at present (namely N95).

@ iPhone killer (AC)

[puts on flame-proof suit]

Awooga awooga! Apple Fanboi Alert!

[note: I neither own an Apple nor Nokia device - I am an HTC-fan]

Get over it dude - Nokia's been consistently "king of the UI" for years if not decades. Sure, some people don't like some of their phones, but there's no other manufacturer out there that comes close in the long run. The iPhone's sexy no doubt, but it's not Divine, and if any manufacturer can make a phone with a nice UI, it's Nokia. Couple a nice UI with the functionality that Nokia phones have been offering for years that the iPhone is lacking, and to be honest I think that you will have a serious contender. Time will tell of course, but the "iPhone2" isn't the Holy Grail, and the longer iPhone/iPhone2 is tethered to it's large price tag and the ongoing costs of the exorbitant contract on limited providers (at least where I am, the UK) it's leaving itself wide open to competition.

@ David Corbett

Ah, thanks for the clarification. What was it about the iPhone that you didn't like when you used one, though? Did you find that the 2.5G connection was far too slow? Personally, I don't find it too bad, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts...?

Hang on. You have used one, right? No -- wait -- you just hate it because it's not 3G. When the 3G model is released, you'll hate it because it's not got MMS. When MMS is added in a future firmware update, you'll hate it because... er... it's too expensive. Oh, and because it's made by Apple. I hate Apple! Waah!

Personal bickering aside, I'm really interested to see what Nokia come up with, but there's more to a decent UI than the physical interface. I've thought that the Nokia interface has been getting steadily worse since the 8210, and they're going to have to do more than bolt on a large touch-screen to make this a great handset, iPhone "killer" or not.

Judas phone?

Bollocks

Sorry guys but this news is so old it's stale: I seem to remeber a jolly Nokia-sponsored night out in London last year, just after they'd made the big announcement about this (with free food, drink and bluetooth handsfrees).

In case anyone cares, the phone is running S60, and there are plenty of videos of the OS in action.

Pathetic

Nokia should have produced this phone a long time ago, personally I don't like the Iphone as it is lacking some features that I like on a phone. But you cannot deny that the Iphone is an evolutional leap from previous phones and congrats to Apple for taking the gamble.

I firmly believe that the development of mobile phones has been slowed down intentionally by the mobile phone manufacturers. To keep customers purchasing new phones each year they had to ensure that the next new phone was better than their previous one, they could create a phone with all the new features available at that time but then they'd need to add some new cutting edge technology the following year or they could take their time, add a camera one year, MP3 player the next year, add video the year after that.

What about HTC?!

They've been making almost-iPhone quality handsets for years. The only thing the iPhone has over them is a MultiTouch touchpanel (and attendant software). In every other way they're superior- easier to sync with (unless you use a Mac), 3G- HSDPA/HSUPA in some cases, just about purely-touch-panel driven (though a few hard buttons), QVGA and VGA resolutions, and a vast amount more software. And a full QWERTY keyboard, and a cool tilty screen. Plus GPS. Oh, and it makes phone calls/sends txts/has MMS/I can unlock it/ I could go on...

Any phone without multitouch, however- Nokia's new beast included- will never have a nice slidey interface like the iPhone unless it's got multitouch and the attendant software. Does the Nokia have multitouch?

I want it NOW!

The last phone I was truly happy with was the SE P910i. Every smartphone since then has been a disappointment because manufacturers insist on sacrificing valuable screen space to put buttons on the front. Now if Nokia will just add a slide-out keyboard, like the N95 or the SE X1, I'll bite their hand off to get one.

@Chris Gibson

They already have the technology

Though I can't figure out why they'd want to use Symbian when they already have a great Linux based platform with the N800/N810. Maybe its the old problem of needing a locked down system?

I think the N8xx works better in tandem with a regular phone myself. I'd rather have a small phone with Bluetooth interface to a data device than carry around a iPhone or Blackberry -- its like those Leatherman multitools (or Swiss Army knives), its a great idea in theory, very ingenious, but it really doesn't do any particular job well.

Let's take iPhone success with a pinch of salt

Lord Jobs and his motley crew designed the iPhone to take on the US mobile market which, lets be fair, consists of crap phones with dreadful service at an already too expensive price (from someone who has just moved from the UK to the US). Its a sorry state of affairs when the top mobile phone service providers make the main point of their adverts that they drop less calls than their opposition. I'm not going into the why - just the fact that US mobile services suck. IMHO they are at about the same level Europe was at 8-10 years ago - and I'm serious with that. I used to get better mobile service in 98 or 99 than I get now in the US - for less money. The phones are lower standard and have less features, everything just isn't as good. In that market, Lord Jobs has managed to come up with a popular phone - selling a lot of units to a market that was starved for quality.

In Europe the iPhone has bombed. I know the fan-bois will come up with some argument why it hasn't bombed, but just look at the sales figures; the empty stores on release day; the lack of meaningful marketing follow up. The reason for that is simple, the iPhone is poor quality and poor value against what Europe offer. Nokia don't have to bring out iPhone killers - in the most mature markets in the world they are already better. This is a marketing stunt from Nokia. They definitely want a touch phone to compete with iPhone, but they don't need it to maintain their already dominant market share. And next time Lord Jobs wants to release a product that is genuinely best in class, he needs to look in the most developed markets first (which with mobiles is either Europe or Japan - most definitely not the remarkably backward USA).

All these so-called "iPhone Killers"

S60

It must be because I don't keep up with cellphone technology much, but I don't get the hatred at S60. I have a 6630 and all the functions I use frequently can be started with one or two clicks, the interface responds quickly, and it crashed twice in 3 years. I must be using it wrong.

Perhaps its just me

but once again I’m struggling to comprehend what everyone’s blathering on about. This is like all that pointless drivel endlessly churned out in the oh-so-tedious OS Flame Wars. What’s wrong with you people?

I’ve been using one for years, don’t care about the network, who makes it or what it looks like just so long as IT MAKES CALLS. Yeah texting is useful, but other than that most everything else is just confetti; an endless succession of marketing ploys aimed directly at gullible morons.

Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson et al have been playing you shamelessly for years so why get so excited about Apple joining in the game? Can you not see that EVERY mobile phone has been turned into gizmo laden, colour coded fashion accessory?

Doesn’t matter how ‘awesome’ your current phone is because, this time next year, there’ll be a nearly identical replacement model that somehow renders your old one both redundant and embarrassing; one more kitchen drawer dust magnet. Phew, good job those contracts only last 12 months eh?

Hmm, what a coincidence?

It the most blatant built-in obsolescence scam the world has ever seen – and all this vociferous N*** this v the i*** that graphically illustrates how you’ve all fallen for it.

<uh-huh>

Hey - I liked the SE P910i as well... before it got all slow when they replaced it with the 990 - oh dear.

Anyway, whatever you may think of the iPhone, you have to concede that Nokia think it's amazing - so amazing they're going to try and make a handset just like it.

What's sad here is that Sony, Nokia and the rest had to be shown that a touch screen could work before they had the balls to make one themselves (and Sony were sooo close too).

Love 'em or hate 'em Apple have come up with a product that will only do us all good - and that's why they get a heart from me.

On a side note: It's funny when I read my posts back they always sound so balanced and reasonable - it always makes me wonder why half the posters here at Reg make themselves sound like such angry jerks...

@ Reid Malenfant

That's strange. I see people every single day using their phones to talk to people, send messages, take photos, listen to MP3s, check the football scores on the internet and maybe even play a little game whilst waiting for the bus.

But pah! Who needs all that bollocks when we could still be using a nice monochrome Ericsson T28 that could only fit 2 lines text on the screen.

There's a reason we don't still live in the DARK AGES mate. That said, I'm still not bloody touching an iPhone.

Designs driven by network operators??

The Nokias and others usually have their designs driven by the network operators (AT&T and Verizon here in the USA). The iPhone was the first that WASN'T driven by the network operators (but yes, tied into one). Until the other phone providers take the "consumer" (the one paying for the service) into account, they will all lose out in the end.

The "success" of the iphone is due to its "ground up" design, not being hampered by previous (mis)conceptions of network operators wanting us to upgrade devices every year or so.

iPhone killer?

sure;y Nokia doesn't care about being seen as an iPhone killer, maybe they wanted to make a nice looking good quality handset (ah I remember my old nokia's with joy,9300i, 6600 and 6210 3310 and 3210 if you care, moved to HTC now)

but remember the things nokias have subtly used to detroy the rest of the market

mine were all FREE!!!

so surely that does nasty things completely to the iPhone bonfire

oh and they're network free (I'm not going to bother with functionality as that arguement never wins with fan boys) but an instant savong of a couple of hundred quid which I can go and spend on a decent MP4 player (got my heart on this one http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProduct.action?product=NWZ-A828K&site=odw_en_GB&imageType=Main&category=NWS+A+Series as it come's with kick ass headphone which will work on phone and player-something the iPhone won't do without a £50 adaptor!!!!!!)